Long-Term Opioid Use Linked to Depression

People who take prescription opioids, which are used for treating pain, for longer than a month may have an increased risk of developing depression, according to a new study. Pain itself can also lead to depression, but in the study, the link between depression and opioid use held even when the researchers accounted for the potential contribution of pain to depression, according to the study. Therefore, if people who are taking opioids for pain notice they have been feeling depressed, both they